bigted

Will's always talked about issues of his life and the world ever since "Code Red" basically when he started to open up more to personal songs when he was 25 and started having children and getting married so he started doing songs like "Can't Wait To Be With You", "Shadow Dreams", and "There's No Place Like Home", I think "Family Buisiness" sounds similar to "There's No Place Like Home" so you could say Kanye might be a fan of "Code Red" too, the reason why Kanye might put out mature songs now 'cause he's around that age now, he does fun songs in between too, he does remind of Will in some ways but I think Will's better than him 'cause he's more experienced, if he came out 5-8 years ago he'd just be doing club songs probably, before that on the other JJFP albums it was mostly feel good songs and storytellin', there's nothin' wrong with that even Rakim does a lot of that, everyone had their own style back then so it was cool to be a comedy rapper and for somebody else to be a political rapper at the same, each album that Will has done has a different concept to it, Will's miles ahead of Kanye lyrically, Kanye got the edge as a producer though of course unless Will decides to hit the boards. :lolsign: btw, it'd be dope if Will did more autobiographal and political tracks but I don't wanna see him get so serious and turn into KRS, he needs to still be the fun Fresh Prince in between too 'cause that's who he is and he better make sure that Jazzy produces the entire next album so it could sound musically better than any rap album out now. Do you listen to music or skim through it? "Tell Me Why" ain't the only serious song on there. What about "Loretta", "Could U Love Me", and "Ms. Holy Roller"? Remember that his first serious song was "Caught In The Middle" 14 years ago, this ain't nothin' new that Will's doing, he's just maturing with the music: Caught (in life) In the middle (in love) Caught (in life) In the middle (in love) Caught (in life) In the middle (in love) Caught (in life) In the middle (in love) Caught (in life) In the middle (in love) Love and life a mysterious combo Sit back relax cause now its time to go Back in my past my personal strife for being Caught in the middle of love and life Love is a fairytale earthly bond But life is true but reality chimes When life brings on love is kind of hard for you to give up The satisfaction you started for This is a metaphor sort of a riddle If your confused chill and I'm sure it'll Clear up for you in a little bit Love and life and I'm caught in the middle of it The middle Caught The middle Who or why your love ain't always right Especially when you cross the path of life The wrath of life is hard Cause your taught to dream on But when your out in the world realities on You found somebody to be with You pour your lovin in and it seems as if Your pouring your love into a bottomless pit You love each other but it just ain't workin Your not meant to be together it seems like Well just think maybe its things like She work 9 to 5 you work 5 to 9 Never together two separate lives Love versus life see what I mean You like the movies she like the club scene Nobody's wrong and nobody's right Just caught in the middle of love and life Caught (in life) In the middle (in love) Caught (in life) In the middle (in love) Caught (in life) In the middle (in love) Caught (in life) In the middle (in love) Caught (in life) In the middle (in love) Everybody wants to capture the rapture Love and live happily ever after Walking around barefoot sniffing daisies Laying around all day long making babies Go to france to dancin eatin in sweden Gambling in rio Winning cause your cheating These are situations you can have some fun in But open your eyes and real life comes running in Dreaming again a plateau to come down off Back to the world and see your love life sounds off Start the day right call your girlfriend But love and life start at it again She says baby I need to see you You say babe I got work to tend to Love tells you to go be with her But life says boy get your butt to work Think of love and life as a rock and a hard place Exhilarating like a high speed car chase Heart ache heart break cuts like a knife Caught in the middle of love and life Caught (in life) In the middle (in love) Caught (in life) In the middle (in love) Caught (in life) In the middle (in love) Caught (in life) In the middle (in love) Caught (in life) (in love) Caught (in life) (in love) caught in the middle caught in the middle

I translated the first paragraph: Bad Boys; Independence Day; Enemy Of The State; Men in Black; Ali; I, Robot... Juscqu' here, the films of Will Smith has beem inflated with the male hormones. Its small last, Hitch - Expert in seduction, groups of X chromosomes.. Will plays Alex Hitchens there, known as - Hitch -, consulting in persuaded love that each man is able to allure significant which woman with the proviso of being caught there correctly. It is there that it intervenes, customising your first goal for a guaranteed success. With 45 million dollars in case after only three days of release in the United States, this comedy learnedly anchored in the air of time confirms once again the immense popularity of Smith, actor-moneybox which nothing seems to resist. After all, - Will -, in English, that wants to say volunté.

"Be, be, 'fore we came to this country We were kings and queens, never porch monkeys There was empires in Africa called Kush Timbuktu, where every race came to get books To learn from black teachers who taught Greeks and Romans Asian Arabs and gave them gold when Gold was converted to money it all changed Money then became empowerment for Europeans The Persian military invaded They heard about the gold, the teachings and everything sacred Africa was almost robbed naked Slavery was money, so they began making slave ships Egypt was the place that Alexander the Great went He was so shocked at the mountains with black faces Shot up they nose to impose what basically Still goes on today, you see? If the truth is told, the youth can grow They learn to survive until they gain control Nobody says you have to be gangstas, hoes Read more learn more, change the globe Ghetto children, do your thing Hold your head up, little man, you're a king Young Princess when you get your wedding ring Your man is saying "She's my Queen"-Nas "I Can"

I could help out too, I took some French in high school, I'm gonna look it over and see what I could do!

NFC Championship Game: Eagles over Panthers AFC Championship Game: Colts over Jets Super Bowl 40: Eagles over Colts

If "Lost and Found" had "The Definition"'s production it'd be a perfect album but at the same time if "The Definition" had "Lost and Found" type lyrics it'd be a perfect album too, there really ain't no perfect albums now so they're still both good enough to top Kanye, 50, and Eminem, but I wouldn't rank those albums up there with "Mama Said Knock You Out" and "He's The DJ, I'm The Rapper", those 2 are flawless, even though I don't play them as much as "Big Willie Style" and "G.O.A.T.".

Of course, tell that to Em too who made fun of Will in an interview by sayin' that he has an Oscar and Will doesn't, well why couldn't the "Men In Black" song win one then? :stickpoke: If the Source only gives "Lost and Found" 3/5, I have no problem giving "Marshall Mathers LP" 3/5, that's actually being lenient 'cause I don't like it much at all but it was one of his most solid efforts, now his albums are disposable, I give LL's "G.O.A.T." 5/5 'cause I musta played that album over 1000 times in the last 5 years since it came out, I still shake my head in disgust that he didn't release "Homicide" or "Can't Think" as singles, that'd got him Grammy status and it'd be his highest sellin' album to date and be ranked right with "Marshall Mathers LP" as the best album of 2000, it was off to a great start by selling 250,000 the 1st week I think when it hit #1 but then it took like 4 months to release "You and Me", like Will he gets crap promotion, they released the worst songs on the album like "Willenium", I hardly ever listen to "Imagine That" or "You and Me", that'd sold 5 million easily with the right promotion, "G.O.A.T."'s probably my all-time favorite album right up there with Boyz II Men's "CooleyHighHarmony" that I musta played over 1000 times too, "Big Willie Style" also musta been played about that much too.

Like I said earlier if you take out "Blueprint", "Ready To Die", and "Marshall Mathers LP" and replace them with "Mama Said Knock You Out", "The Great Adventures Of Slick Rick", and "He's The DJ, I'm The Rapper", it'd be a perfect list, of course replacing "Fear Of A Black Planet" with "Criminal Minded" would make the list even more perfect, KRS inspired PE's and everyone elses political side so he deserves more credit, how could you put Common and Nas then ignore KRS? "2Pacalypse Now" replacing "All Eyez On Me" would be the only other possible change I'd make, if I'd put any recent albums on the list it'd probably be from DMX, Wyclef Jean, or Lauryn Hill, I got no beef with Jay-Z but "Volume 2: Hard Knock Life" is way better than "Blueprint", the closest thing to a classic album he's done besides "Reasonable Doubt" so if I'd list any it'd be that one, here's how I'd rank a few albums: LL "10": 4/5 LL "G.O.A.T.": 5/5 LL "Definition": 4.5/5 Jay-Z "BluePrint": 3.5/5 Jay-Z "Volume 2: Hard Knock Life": 4.5/5 Jay-Z "Reasonable Doubt": 5/5 Eminem "Marshall Mathers LP": 3/5 Eminem "Slim Shady LP": 3.5/5 Eminem "Encore": 1/5 Biggie "Ready To Die": 3.75/5 DMX "It's Dark And Hell Is Hot": 5/5 Wyclef "Carnival": 5/5

I actually didn't hear Ja Rule's last album but a lot of hip-hop heads think that he beat 50 Cent when they battled, I think mostly everyone's better than 50 Cent though, he's one of the worst rappers ever, 'The Massacre' is an example of one of the worst albums ever, I don't think any of Ja Rule's albums were that mediocre.

Here's my picks: Sunday, Sep. 11 Chicago at Washington-Redskins Cincinnati at Cleveland-Bengals Denver at Miami-Broncos Houston at Buffalo-Bills New Orleans at Carolina-Saints N.Y. Jets at Kansas City-Jets Seattle at Jacksonville-Seahawks Tampa Bay at Minnesota-Vikings Tennessee at Pittsburgh-Steelers Arizona at N.Y. Giants-Giants Dallas at San Diego-Chargers Green Bay at Detroit-Packers St. Louis at San Francisco-Rams Indianapolis at Baltimore-Colts Monday, Sep. 12 Philadelphia at Atlanta-Eagles! :yeah:

There's no way you could sum up 25 years of recorded hip-hop albums with just 20 albums, you need at least 100, a fair 3-4 albums a year would summarise hip-hop history, maybe 5-6 in the golden years and 1-2 from each recent year where the quality's down, I think "G.O.A.T." might be LL's most versatile album ever even though it ain't as popular as the classics "Mama Said Knock You Out" or "Mr. Smith", he held his own with all the best of hip-hop at that time when he outshined all the top notch guest appearances on there and put Cannibus' career to the grave on that album, "The Definition" is like his "Big Willie Style" since it's a club album so I wouldn't use that to define his career but I'd still call it a solid effort better than mostly anything out within the last couple years but it ain't a timeless LL classic, I know he could do better though myself, maybe he needs some guest appearances on his next album like he had on "The G.O.A.T." to make him wanna outshine the comp again, he's done it all though basically, "10" was a lil' dissapointment after "G.O.A.T." for me maybe that's why I'm so hard on it but realistically it's better than any top album at that time and that's why he's the "G.O.A.T." his worst effort is better than most rappers' best effort, I'll put that up against "Blueprint" and "Marshall Mathers LP" production wise and lyrically wise. If this list is based on mostly sales then why ain't "Big Willie Style" on the list, many Pac heads don't consider "All Eyez On Me" his best album either and the most commercial from his as well Outkast's "Speakerboxx/Love Below" sold 10 million too, why ain't it there either? not many mainstream heads heard of "Southernplayalisticadillacmusik", they might as well list "Code Red" 'cause it sold about just as low as that and had as much street cred too, Soul Of Mischief's "'93 Till Infinity" was copied by a lot of today's popular lyricists including Eminem so it deserves to be mentioned too, that's another landmark album every hip-hop head should have. Why is DMX so slept on, maybe it's 'cause he does movies now too? :lolsign: He's had 5 consecutive muliti-platinum albums that hit #1 on the charts, "It's Dark And Hell Is Hot" and "The Great Depression" are hip-hop classics. Nas influenced 50 Cent??!! :rofl: If there wasn't Slick Rick, FP, LL, or KRS, there wouldn't even be no Jay-Z or Nas, I think it's important to list all the pioneers of rap first, if they really wanna educate commercial rap fans, they should list 20 albums from 1980-1990 and 20 albums from 20 albums from 1990-2000 and 10 albums from 2000-2005, that'd make fans of all ages happy! :yeah:

I think I need hip-hop flashcards to give me all the answers, here's a couple I know off the top of my dome: 12-Afrika Bambataa, I don't remember the title of the song though :lolsign: 73-1992, "Let's Talk About Sex" by Salt-N-Pepa

I think "The Definition" is a step above "10" 'cause it had more energy from top to bottom except for "Can't Explain It" that song's a lil' boring, different strokes for different folks, just like you think "Born To Reign" is better than "Willenium", but "10" wasn't all that bad I think "Big Momma"'s phenominal "Fa Ha" is a nice storytellin' track and I dig "Throw Ya L's Up", "10 Million Stars", "Mirror Mirror", "Clockin' G's" and "Paradise" too, you could always pick 6 or 7 dope songs from each of LL's 11 albums though just like Will's 9, I could say there was about 6-7 dope tracks on "Born To Reign" too, you can't say that about too many mcs, that's the problem with a lot of rappers now, they can't really make quality albums, they might have a hot single but the rest of their albums are wack.

They even had the nerve to give Eminem an Oscar for a movie playing himself( what a hard role! :lolsign: ) before giving an Oscar to any of Will's movies, Will's actually put out more albums than Rakim has in recent years despite doing so many movies so I don't understand why they can't give Will the credit he deserves, Rakim only put out 2 albums in the last 12 years, Will's put out 5 in the last 12 years, I don't know if Rakim or anybody could put out an album now on the same level as "Lost and Found", "The 18th Letter" is a lil' better than "Big Willie Style", "Willenium" is superior to "The Master" although I'd rank "The Master" as one of the 20 ahead of "Marshall Mathers LP", well "Paid In Full"'s better than any of the JJFP albums or any hip-hop albums for that matter so it's an even score I guess, lol, Rakim hasn't released much so it's hard to tell if he'd have a weak album like "Born To Reign", LL and KRS been putting out a lot recently still, LL's "G.O.A.T." and KRS "Kristyles" are on the same level as "Lost and Found" but I'd say LL's "10" and KRS' "Spirtual Minded" are about as weak as "Born To Reign" even though there all still better than the competition, 50 Cent and Eminem can't even touch those albums even if it's not their best though, those are the only guys besides that I could say that're possibly better than Will, I'm surprised they mentioned Big Daddy Kane, it's been a while since somebody mentioned any of his albums in the top 20, well deserved, he needs to comeback with another album, there's supposed to be one in the works but who knows if that'll ever come out.

They'd probably say "Marshall Mathers LP" was #1 and put "Raising Hell" at the bottom list if it wasn't in chronological order, it wouldn't surpise me since they name Biggie the greatest rapper, I'm sick of all these lists that ignore JJFP and put Eminem on all their lists, that's kinda funny though that Em says "radio don't even play my jam", that's a joke, they play his before anyone elses, they make it seem like JJFP didn't win the 1st rap grammy and Eminem did the way they ignore them now, Eminem is the Elvis of rap, they might as well start building his statue, f*** the media! :shrug:

My bad, but I think it'd kinda funny if Kanye got mad and started teaming up with everyone else that 50's battlin' right now, btw I just threw on "Venni Venni Vicci" a lil' while ago after having it sit there for a while but I could honestly say that I'm proud of owning that album, late '90s classic, he needs to be that aggressive again.

"My, my, my music hits me so hard Makes me say "Oh my Lord" Thank you for blessing me With a mind to rhyme and two hype feet It feels good, when you know you're down A super dope homeboy from the Oaktown And I'm known as such And this is a beat, uh, you can't touch"-MC Hammer "U Can't Touch This"

Basically all the ones I'd call classics except I'd take "Ready To Die", "Blueprint" and "Marshall Mathers LP" off the list, those are the 3 most overrated albums ever that the MTV crowd of teenagers are most familiar with, they might as well take Public Enemy off the list and mention "Country Grammar" to make it a least only teenagers will be familiar with, I borrow those albums from some of my friends that rely on MTV for their hip-hop but I wouldn't be caught dead with them in my collection, I always get into fights with them and tell them that there's a whole world of hip-hop out there beyond the radio and MTV, AOL sucks, I wouldn't put those in my top 100(especailly Marshall Mathers LP, I could name 20 albums from 1999-2000 that're better easily) if they don't mention real hip-hop classics like KRS' "Criminal Minded", LL's "Mama Said Knock You Out", or Slick Rick's "Great Adventures Of Slick Rick", and like usual JJFP get no love, selling 30 million albums and yet none of them get mentioned, wtf, "He's The DJ, I'm The Rapper" is top 5 easily, "Code Red" top 20, "Lost and Found"(the album of the decade so far) and "Willenium" top 50 with "Big Willie Style" and "Homebase" in the top 100, with "Rock The House" and "And In This Corner..." ahead of "Marshall Mathers LP". Why doesn't any of Queen Latifah, MC Hammer, Heavy D, Pete Rock and CL Smooth, Naughty By Nature, Busta Rhymes, or Salt-N-Pepa albums get any love? I hate the media's lists, I rather make my own or ask knowledgable hip-hop heads like AJ or Tim if I need schooling on what classic album I need for for my CD collection.

Ja Rule's 1st 2 albums are better than anything 50 Cent has ever done, I hope he goes back to that form again, if he steps it up and sounds more intelligent he might be, I wonder if Kanye's gonna produce the album, lol.

I found this on Jazzy Jeff's board, I guess Tim posted there, well I'm gonna post it here, I wonder why Will ain't gonna be there? :shrug: "go along to this and support the victims of hurricane katrina.. from the Philadelphia Inquirer http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/ma...ly/12585672.htm Two Katrina benefits here on Saturday Big names will gather here Saturday for two Hurricane Katrina benefit concerts. Charles "Charlie Mac" Alston, whose Party 4 Peace Celebrity Weekend brought stars here in July, is staging a concert at the Dell East in East Fairmount Park. Alston, a longtime Will Smith confidant and music insider, says he has booked Eve, Musiq, Floetry, Freeway, Tony Moore's Jehovah Children, Young Gunz, Ms. Jade, and DJ Jazzy Jeff to perform at the Project Brotherly Love Concert, running from 2 to 7 p.m. at the city-owned venue on 33d Street near Ridge Avenue. "It wasn't a hard thing to think about," Alston said. "It seemed like the right thing to do." Alston said that among the guests will be displaced Southerners who have been relocated here. The $15 admission will go toward the American Red Cross, he said. Information: 267-228-9809. Country star Alan Jackson's concert at the Tweeter Center in Camden at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, sponsored by radio station WXTU-FM (92.5), has become a hurricane benefit for the Red Cross. Jackson, WXTU owner Beasley Broadcast Group, and Tweeter management each will contribute $1 per ticket to the effort. If all 25,000 tickets are sold (lawn seats are $27.50), they'll donate $75,000.

:lolsign:

FP should do a new song produced by Kanye West about Hurricane Katrina, maybe throw R. Kelly on the chorus, that'd be some soulpower, it wouldn't hurt to throw LL and Rev. Run on the song either.

Biggie said it himself that the Junior M.A.F.I.A. wasn't rappers, they were just his crew he would chill with, he signed them and wrote rhymes for them to make an album, they didn't get signed 'cause they would win battles on the streets, I don't think Lil' Kim could freestyle when she never really wrote much of her rhymes ever, Biggie and Diddy had a lot of input on "Hardcore" too, her recent stuff sucks maybe that's 'cause she does it on her own now, if they weren't down with Biggie they'd still be broke, this is what a lot of rappers do, they sign their talentless friends and the ones who really have talent can't get the deals, look at G Unit and D12, Tony Yayo and Bizarre are battle rappers? :rofl:

Bush's approval rating went down to 39 percent from 40 percent last week so that means a lot of this country still agrees with Kanye! I still think that there's a prejudice towards blacks but I also think there's also a prejudice towards poor people that're any color by the government leaders that're black or white, it's a class issue, these people barely had anything before the storm hit to begin with. I think most of the new jobs that Bush is coming up with now are minimum wage jobs so a lot of poverty will still be around, I could see it for myself since I can't find a computer programming job in my area and all I see is places like Burger King and Kmart hiring, I'm still waiting on them to hire me too and I got a high school diploma but they rather hire 16-year olds or women and pay them less, you shouldn't have to move to another area to find the job you want or just get a job period since this is a land of opportunity, it depresses me too when I was working in a dollar store and I see people using credit card to buy a container of milk, this is how poor we've become that we don't have $2 in our pockets anymore? I heard they're giving hard time to the victims with the $2,000 debit cards they were given too. The government's gonna be more concerned about rebuilding New Orleans than they will be about helping victims get back on their feet, look at what happened to the 9/11 victims, a lot of them didn't get the assistance they deserved right up to this day, peep that article I posted on this forum too a couple days ago! : President's Approval Rating Dips Below 40 By WILL LESTER, Associated Press Writer 25 minutes ago WASHINGTON - President Bush's job approval has dipped below 40 percent for the first time in the AP-Ipsos poll, reflecting widespread doubts about his handling of gasoline prices and the response to Hurricane Katrina. ADVERTISEMENT Nearly four years after Bush's job approval soared into the 80s after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Bush was at 39 percent job approval in an AP-Ipsos poll taken this week. That's the lowest since the the poll was started in December 2003. The public's view of the nation's direction has grown increasingly negative as well, with nearly two-thirds now saying the country is heading down the wrong track. "As a nation, we are pretty well stretched," said Barry Allen, a political independent from Reed City, Mich. "I approve of some of the things the president has done, and disapprove of others. Overall, I disapprove." Allen said he liked some of Bush's economic steps during his first term but has been dissatisfied with the president's economic moves in his second term, his Iraq policy and his handling of gasoline prices. Allen worries Hurricane Katrina has taken the wind out of an economy that was moving in the right direction. With gasoline racing past $3 a gallon, Bush's standing on dealing with those prices may be one of his biggest problems — seven in 10 said they disapprove. And just over half in the poll, 52 percent, said they disapprove of the president's handling of the hurricane. For Bill Kane of Kingsland, Ga., the government's slow response to the hurricane "was terrifying to see in our own country. It made you mad, because it made you think where's our money going?" More evidence of problems with the storm response surfaced Friday when the Federal Emergency Management Agency announced it would discontinue a 2-day-old program to issue debit cards worth to displaced families. The administration also dumped FEMA Director Michael Brown, who had come to symbolize the stumbling early days of the hurricane response, as commander of Katrina relief efforts. Brown once served as the judges and stewards commissioner for the International Arabian Horse Association. "Bush puts people in jobs who don't know what they're doing," said Shirley Carignan, a retiree and a political independent from Weymouth, Mass. "I think he's picking friends for these jobs. My girlfriend raises Arabians. You know horses, so what? Horses and people are different things." The number of people who think the country is on the wrong track grew from 59 percent last month to 65 percent this month. Tumbling consumer confidence after Hurricane Katrina may be contributing to that sense of pessimism. The RBC CASH Index, based on polling by Ipsos, showed that consumer confidence sank in September to the lowest level since early March 2003 before the start of the Iraq war. Economic woes and a continuing war in Iraq have been complicated by the continuing hurricane recovery crisis. "A lot of Americans don't pay attention to their leaders on a day-to-day basis," said Robert Blendon, a public opinion analyst at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. "They measure presidents, governors and mayors on how they handle big events like a hurricane. This event is not over because the bodies are going to be discovered day by day." ___ On the Net: Ipsos: http://www.ap-ipsosresults.com

I found this long article posted by somebody on Public Enemy's board, it tells you what's really going on down there from victims who were there: These postings are from a listserve for artists of African descent. One was posted by the cousin of the founder of this listserve. Another is a transcription of Charmaine Neville (Aaron Neville's daughter). Stories like the ones below contest the racist portrayals that we are all reading about, hearing, and viewing in the media. With regards, Danielle ### i heard from my aunt last night that my cousin Denise > made it out of New Orleans; she's at her brother's in > Baton Rouge. from what she told me: > > her mother, a licensed practical nurse, was called in > to work on Sunday night at Memorial Hospital > (historically known as Baptist Hospital to those of us > from N.O.). Denise decided to stay with her mother, > her niece and grandniece (who is 2 years old); she > figured they'd be safe at the hospital. they went to > Baptist, and had to wait hours to be assigned a room > to sleep in; after they were finally assigned a room, > two white nurses suddenly arrived after the cut-off > time (time to be assigned a room), and Denise and her > family were booted out; their room was given up to the > new nurses. Denise was furious, and rather than stay > at Baptist, decided to walk home (several blocks away) > to ride out the storm at her mother's apartment. her > mother stayed at the hospital. > > she described it as the scariest time in her life. 3 > of the rooms in the apartment (there are only 4) caved > in. ceilings caved in, walls caved in. she huddled > under a mattress in the hall. she thought she would > die from either the storm or a heart attack. after the > storm passed, she went back to Baptist to seek shelter > (this was Monday). it was also scary at Baptist; the > electricity was out, they were running on generators, > there was no air conditioning. Tuesday the levees > broke, and water began rising. they moved patients > upstairs, saw boats pass by on what used to be > streets. they were told that they would be evacuated, > that buses were coming. then they were told they would > have to walk to the nearest intersection, Napoleon and > S. Claiborne, to await the buses. they waded out in > hip-deep water, only to stand at the intersection, on > the neutral ground (what y'all call the median) for 3 > 1/2 hours. the buses came and took them to the Ernest > Morial Convention Center. (yes, the convention center > you've all seen on TV.) > > Denise said she thought she was in hell. they were > there for 2 days, with no water, no food. no shelter. > Denise, her mother (63 years old), her niece (21 years > old), and 2-year-old grandniece. when they arrived, > there were already thousands of people there. they > were told that buses were coming. police drove by, > windows rolled up, thumbs up signs. national guard > trucks rolled by, completely empty, soldiers with guns > cocked and aimed at them. nobody stopped to drop off > water. a helicopter dropped a load of water, but all > the bottles exploded on impact due to the height of > the helicopter. > > the first day (Wednesday) 4 people died next to her. > the second day (Thursday) 6 people died next to her. > Denise told me the people around her all thought they > had been sent there to die. again, nobody stopped. the > only buses that came were full; they dropped off more > and more people, but nobody was being picked up and > taken away. they found out that those being dropped > off had been rescued from rooftops and attics; they > got off the buses delirious from lack of water and > food. completely dehydrated. the crowd tried to keep > them all in one area; Denise said the new arrivals had > mostly lost their minds. they had gone crazy. > > inside the convention center, the place was one huge > bathroom. in order to ****, you had to stand in other > people's ****. the floors were black and slick with > ****. most people stayed outside because the smell was > so bad. but outside wasn't much better: between the > heat, the humidity, the lack of water, the old and > very young dying from dehydration... and there was no > place to lay down, not even room on the sidewalk. they > slept outside Wednesday night, under an overpass. > > Denise said yes, there were young men with guns there. > but they organized the crowd. they went to Canal > Street and "looted," and brought back food and water > for the old people and the babies, because nobody had > eaten in days. when the police rolled down windows and > yelled out "the buses are coming," the young men with > guns organized the crowd in order: old people in > front, women and children next, men in the back. just > so that when the buses came, there would be priorities > of who got out first. > > Denise said the fights she saw between the young men > with guns were fist fights. she saw them put their > guns down and fight rather than shoot up the crowd. > but she said that there were a handful of people shot > in the convention center; their bodies were left > inside, along with other dead babies and old people. > > Denise said the people thought there were being sent > there to die. lots of people being dropped off, nobody > being picked up. cops passing by, speeding off. > national guard rolling by with guns aimed at them. and > yes, a few men shot at the police, because at a > certain point all the people thought the cops were > coming to hurt them, to kill them all. she saw a young > man who had stolen a car speed past, cops in pursuit; > he crashed the car, got out and ran, and the cops shot > him in the back. in front of the whole crowd. she saw > many groups of people decide that they were going to > walk across the bridge to the west bank, and those > same groups would return, saying that they were met at > the top of the bridge by armed police ordering them to > turn around, that they weren't allowed to leave. > > so they all believed they were sent there to die. > > Denise's niece found a pay phone, and kept trying to > call her mother's boyfriend in Baton Rouge, and > finally got through and told him where they were. the > boyfriend, and Denise's brother, drove down from Baton > Rouge and came and got them. they had to bribe a few > cops, and talk a few into letting them into the city > ("come on, man, my 2-year-old niece is at the > Convention Center!"), then they took back roads to get > to them. > > after arriving at my other cousin's apartment in Baton > Rouge, they saw the images on TV, and couldn't believe > how the media was portraying the people of New > Orleans. she kept repeating to me on the phone last > night: make sure you tell everybody that they left us > there to die. nobody came. those young men with guns > were protecting us. if it wasn't for them, we wouldn't > have had the little water and food they had found. > > that's Denise Moore's story. > > Lisa C. Moore **** Transcript: I was in my house when everything first started. I was in my house in the Bywater area in the Ninth Ward in New Orleans. When the hurricane came, it blew all of the left side of my house, the north side of my house completely off. The water was coming in my house in torrents. I had my neighbor, and an elderly man who is my neighbor, and myself in the house with our dogs and cats, and we were trying to stay out of the water but the water was coming in too fast. So we ended up having to leave the house. We left the house and we went up on the roof of a school. I took a crowbar and I burst the door open on the roof of the school to help people, to get them up on the roof of the school. Later on we found a flatboat, and we went around in the flatboat, getting people off the roof of their houses and bringing them to the school. We found all the food that we could, and we cooked and we fed people. But then, things started getting really bad. By the second day, the people that were there -- the people that we were feeding and everything -- we had no more food, no water, no nothing. And other people were coming into our neighborhood. We were watching the helicopters go across the bridge and airlift other people out, but they would hover over us and tell us "hi", and that would be all. They wouldn't drop us any food, any water, nothing. Alligators were eating people. They had all kind of stuff floating in the water. They had babies floating in the water. We had to walk over hundreds of bodies of dead people -- people that we tried to save from the hospices, from the hospitals, and from the old folks homes. I tried to get the police to help us, but I realized we rescued a lot of police officers in the flatboat from the Fifth District Police Station. The guy who was driving the boat, he rescued them and brought them to a lot of different places where they could be saved. We understood why the police couldn't help us, but we couldn't understand why the National Guard and them couldn't help us, because we kept seeing them. But they never would stop and help us. Finally, it just got to be too much. I just took all of the people that I could. I had two old women in wheelchairs with no legs. I rolled them from down there in that Ninth Ward to the French Quarter, and I went back and got more people. There were groups of us, there was about 24 of us, and we kept going back and forth rescuing whoever we could get and bringing them to the French Quarter since we heard that there were phones in the French Quarter and that there wasn't any water [flooding]. They were right, there was phones, but we couldn't get through. I found some police officers. I told them that a lot of us women had been raped down there. [her voice breaks] Men were coming in through the neighborhood, not the men that were helping us save people, but others. [begins crying] And they came and they started raping women, and raping them, and then they started killing. And I don't know who these people were, I'm not going to tell you I knew who they were, because I don't. But what I want people to understand is that if we were not left down there like the animals they were treating us like, all of those things wouldn't have happened. People are trying to say that we stayed in that city because we *wanted* to be rioting and we wanted to do this. We didn't have resources to get out; we had no way to leave. When they gave the evacuation order, if we could have left, we would have left. There are still thousands and thousands of people trapped in the homes down in the downtown area, in the Ninth Ward. And not just in my neighborhood, but in other neighborhoods in the Ninth Ward. There are people still trapped down there -- old people, young people, babies, pregnant women -- nobody's helping them. And I want people to realize that we did not stay in that city so we could steal and loot and commit crimes. A lot of those young men lost their minds because the helicopters would fly over us and wouldn't stop. We'd do SOS with the flashlights, we'd do everything. And it came to a point, it really did come to a point, when these young men were so frustrated that they did start shooting. They weren't trying to hit the helicopters, they figured that maybe they weren't seeing, maybe if they hear this gunfire, they will stop then. But that didn't help us, nothing like that helped us. Finally, I got to Canal Street with all of my people that I had saved from back there. There was a whole group of us. *I* -- I don't want them arresting nobody else -- *I* broke the window in a RTA bus. I never learned how to drive a bus in my life. I got in that bus, I loaded all of those people in wheelchairs and everything else into that bus, [begins sobbing] and we drove and we drove and we drove and millions of people were trying to get me to help them, to get on the bus with us [breaks down in sobs, Bishop Hughes comforts and praises her inaudibly] I don't know how God gave me the willpower to do... I just tried...gave me the willpower to do... I just tried... [segment ends] that's Charmaine Neville's story. I just left New Orleans a couple hours ago. I traveled from the apartment I was staying in by boat to a helicopter to a refugee camp. If anyone wants to examine the attitude of federal and state officials towards the victims of hurricane Katrina, I advise you to visit one of the refugee camps. In the refugee camp I just left, on the I-10 freeway near Causeway, thousands of people (at least 90% black and poor) stood and squatted in mud and trash behind metal barricades, under an unforgiving sun, with heavily armed soldiers standing guard over them. When a bus would come through, it would stop at a random spot, state police would open a gap in one of the barricades, and people would rush for the bus, with no information given about where the bus was going. Once inside (we were told) evacuees would be told where the bus was taking them - Baton Rouge, Houston, Arkansas, Dallas, or other locations. I was told that if you boarded a bus bound for Arkansas (for example), even people with family and a place to stay in Baton Rouge would not be allowed to get out of the bus as it passed through Baton Rouge. You had no choice but to go to the shelter in Arkansas. If you had people willing to come to New Orleans to pick you up, they could not come within 17 miles of the camp. I traveled throughout the camp and spoke to Red Cross workers, Salvation Army workers, National Guard, and state police, and although they were friendly, no one could give me any details on when buses would arrive, how many, where they would go to, or any other information. I spoke to the several teams of journalists nearby, and asked if any of them had been able to get any information from any federal or state officials on any of these questions, and all of them, from Australian tv to local Fox affiliates complained of an unorganized, non-communicative, mess. One cameraman told me "as someone who's been here in this camp for two days, the only information I can give you is this: get out by nightfall. You don't want to be here at night." There was also no visible attempt by any of those running the camp to set up any sort of transparent and consistent system, for instance a line to get on buses, a way to register contact information or find family members, special needs services for children and infirm, phone services, treatment for possible disease exposure, nor even a single trash can. To understand this tragedy, its important to look at New Orleans itself. For those who have not lived in New Orleans, you have missed a incredible, glorious, vital, city. A place with a culture and energy unlike anywhere else in the world. A 70% African-American city where resistance to white supremecy has supported a generous, subversive and unique culture of vivid beauty. From jazz, blues and hiphop, to secondlines, Mardi Gras Indians, Parades, Beads, Jazz Funerals, and red beans and rice on Monday nights, New Orleans is a place of art and music and dance and sexuality and liberation unlike anywhere else in the world. It is a city of kindness and hospitality, where walking down the block can take two hours because you stop and talk to someone on every porch, and where a community pulls together when someone is in need. It is a city of extended families and social networks filling the gaps left by city, state and federal goverments that have abdicated their responsibilty for the public welfare. It is a city where someone you walk past on the street not only asks how you are, they wait for an answer. It is also a city of exploitation and segregation and fear. The city of New Orleans has a population of just over 500,000 and was expecting 300 murders this year, most of them centered on just a few, overwhelmingly black, neighborhoods. Police have been quoted as saying that they don't need to search out the perpetrators, because usually a few days after a shooting, the attacker is shot in revenge. There is an atmosphere of intense hostility and distrust between much of Black New Orleans and the N.O. Police Department. In recent months, officers have been accused of everything from drug running to corruption to theft. In seperate incidents, two New Orleans police officers were recently charged with rape (while in uniform), and there have been several high profile police killings of unarmed youth, including the murder of Jenard Thomas, which has inspired ongoing weekly protests for several months. The city has a 40% illiteracy rate, and over 50% of black ninth graders will not graduate in four years. Louisiana spends on average $4,724 per child's education and ranks 48th in the country for lowest teacher salaries. The equivalent of more than two classrooms of young people drop out of Louisiana schools every day and about 50,000 students are absentfrom school on any given day. Far too many young black men from New Orleans end up enslaved in Angola Prison, a former slave plantation where inmates still do manual farm labor, and over 90% of inmates eventually die in the prison. It is a city where industry has left, and most remaining jobs are are low-paying, transient, insecure jobs in the service economy. Race has always been the undercurrent of Louisiana politics. This disaster is one that was constructed out of racism, neglect and incompetence. Hurricane Katrina was the inevitable spark igniting the gasoline of cruelty and corruption. From the neighborhoods left most at risk, to the treatment of the refugees to the the media portayal of the victims, this disaster is shaped by race. Louisiana politics is famously corrupt, but with the tragedies of this week our political leaders have defined a new level of incompetence. As hurricane Katrina approached, our Governor urged us to "Pray the hurricane down" to a level two. Trapped in a building two days after the hurricane, we tuned our battery-operated radio into local radio and tv stations, hoping for vital news, and were told that our governor had called for a day of prayer. As rumors and panic began to rule, they was no source of solid dependable information. Tuesday night, politicians and reporters said the water level would rise another 12 feet - instead it stabilized. Rumors spread like wildfire, and the politicians and media only made it worse. While the rich escaped New Orleans, those with nowhere to go and no way to get there were left behind. Adding salt to the wound, the local and national media have spent the last week demonizing those left behind. As someone that loves New Orleans and the people in it, this is the part of this tragedy that hurts me the most, and it hurts me deeply. No sane person should classify someone who takes food from indefinitely closed stores in a desperate, starving city as a "looter," but thats just what the media did over and over again. Sherrifs and politicians talked of having troops protect stores instead of perform rescue operations. Images of New Orleans' hurricane-ravaged population were transformed into black, out-of-control, criminals. As if taking a stereo from a store that will clearly be insured against loss is a greater crime than the governmental neglect and incompetence that did billions of dollars of damage and destroyed a city. This media focus is a tactic, just as the eighties focus on "welfare queens" and "super- predators" obscured the simultaneous and much larger crimes of the Savings and Loan scams and mass layoffs, the hyper-exploited people of New Orleans are being used as a scapegoat to cover up much larger crimes. City, state and national politicians are the real criminals here. Since at least the mid-1800s, its been widely known the danger faced by flooding to New Orleans. The flood of 1927, which, like this week's events, was more about politics and racism than any kind of natural disaster, illustrated exactly the danger faced. Yet government officials have consistently refused to spend the money to protect this poor, overwhelmingly black, city. While FEMA and others warned of the urgent impending danger to New Orleans and put forward proposals for funding to reinforce and protect the city, the Bush administration, in every year since 2001, has cut or refused to fund New Orleans flood control, and ignored scientists warnings of increased hurricanes as a result of global warming. And, as the dangers rose with the floodlines, the lack of coordinated response dramatized vividly the callous disregard of our elected leaders. The aftermath from the 1927 flood helped shape the elections of both a US President and a Governor, and ushered in the southern populist politics of Huey Long. In the coming months, billions of dollars will likely flood into New Orleans. This money can either be spent to usher in a "New Deal" for the city, with public investment, creation of stable union jobs, new schools, cultural programs and housing restoration, or the city can be "rebuilt and revitalized" to a shell of its former self, with newer hotels, more casinos, and with chain stores and theme parks replacing the former neighborhoods, cultural centers and corner jazz clubs. Long before Katrina, New Orleans was hit by a hurricane of poverty, racism, disinvestment, de-industrialization and corruption. Simply the damage from this pre-Katrina hurricane will take billions to repair. Now that the money is flowing in, and the world's eyes are focused on Katrina, its vital that progressive-minded people take this opportunity to fight for a rebuilding with justice. New Orleans is a special place, and we need to fight for its rebirth.